International academic meeting: Funerary archaeology, art and architecture in Hellenistic and Roman times

The Department of History and Archeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Archaeological Society of Alexandria, within the framework of a five-year memorandum of cooperation (2021-2025), jointly organized with the Alexandrian Center for Hellenistic Studies of the Library of Alexandria, an international academic meeting titled: Funerary archaeology, art and architecture in Hellenistic and Roman times.

The meeting was held in Alexandria from 03 to 07 July 2022, and was addressed to graduate students from Greece and Egypt who are engaged in the study of the “archaeology of death” in the eastern Mediterranean during Hellenistic and Roman times.

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens was represented by a nine-member team consisting of seven postgraduate students of classical archeology under the supervision of Dimitris Plantzos, Professor of Classical Archeology and Nikolas Dimakis, Assistant Professor of Classical Archeology who had also undertaken the organization and coordination of the meeting.

The workshop started on Sunday 03/07 at the Library of Alexandria with the keynote lecture by Dimitris Plantzos, titled: Styling social identity in Alexandrian funerary painting.

Between 04-07/07 the intensive program included morning on-site classes at archaeological sites of ancient (Shatby, Mustapha Kamel, Anfushi, Kom el Shoqafa) and modern (Greek community cemetery of Alexandria) cemeteries of the city, as well as at archaeological museums and collections.

At the cemetery of Shatby (early 3rd-2nd century BC), in particular, where since 2019 the Archaeological Society of Alexandria has been working on its excavation, conservation, highlighting and documentation, the Department of History and Archeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens contributes to the scientific documentation of the cemetery with the participation in the research group of assistant professor Nikolas Dimakis, specialist in burial archaeology, and the management of the project’s website.

The morning on-site classes were enriched with afternoon lectures by experts in funerary archaeology, art and architecture of the Hellenistic and Roman times. Invited speakers from Egypt, Greece and Cyprus strengthened the educational nature of the meeting with their expertise, creating the right conditions for further student reflection, questions and discussion.

The meeting was attended by dozens of students, members of Egyptian and European research bodies active in the country, as well as members of the Greek Community of Alexandria, crowning its work a complete success and forming a solid basis for the continuation of the research activity of NKUA in Egypt.